Parliaments unitedto combat violence against women

The Parliamentary Assembly implemented the parliamentary
dimension of the Council of Europe Campaign to combat violence against women,
including domestic violence (2006-2008). Through the mobilisation of 56 contact
parliamentarians in 40 national parliaments and international parliamentary
assemblies, more than 200 activities were implemented to raise awareness
of the general public. In several countries, laws were changed.

On 3 October 2008, the Parliamentary Assembly decided to
ask parliamentarians to remain mobilised. With this perspective, the network
of contact parliamentarians was renewed in 2009 to pursue the APCE action
to combat violence against women.

List
of the contact parliamentarians appointed in 2009 [AS/EGA/Inf (2009)8]

Strasbourg, 12 December
2008 - PACE welcomes first step towards a Council of Europe Convention
on combating violence against women

“I welcome the decision by the Committee
of Ministers to approve the terms of reference of an ad hoc committee
to draft a legal instrument aiming at preventing and combating
violence against women and domestic violence,” said Carina
Hägg, Chair of the PACE Sub-Committee on Violence against
Women. “Thanks to the involvement of Assembly members and
the efforts of the Committee of Ministers supported by Maud de
Boer-Buquicchio, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe,
it is now possible to start work on drafting a convention,” she
added.
“But it is only a first step,” she
went on to say. “PACE will be closely following the negotiations
and will defend the position that it adopted unanimously on 3 October
in favour of a convention encompassing the gender dimension and
covering the most severe and widespread forms of violence against
women, including domestic violence, forced marriages and sexual
violence.”

Geneva, 4 December 2008
- The results of the PACE Campaign presented to the Interparliamentary
Union

Mr Mendes Bota (Portugal, EPP/CD), Vice-President
of the Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men and PACE
Rapporteur, presented the results of the action undertaken by PACE
in 2006-2008 at the Third Conference for Members of Parliamentary
Committees on the Status of Women and other Committees Dealing
with Gender Equality devoted to the issue "a parliamentary
response to violence against women".

Madrid, 27 November 2008 - Combating violence
against women: mobilising parliamentarians in order to speed
up the draft convention

The Spanish Minister responsible
for equal opportunities, Bibiana Aído, expressed her
support this morning for PACE Recommendation
1847 (2008), which calls on European governments to prepare
a Council of Europe framework convention on the severest and
most widespread forms of violence against women, including
domestic violence, sexual assault, harassment, forced marriages, "honour" crimes
and female genital mutilation. "An accurate, reliable
diagnosis of the phenomenon of violence against women is the
first step towards combating it more effectively,” said
Ms. Aído. “It is for this reason that the Spanish
Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers, which begins today,
is determined to conduct a more detailed analysis of the phenomenon
in member states so that it can work with common parameters." The
Minister was addressing the members of the Sub-Committee on
Violence against Women in Madrid.
For his part, the President
of PACE, Lluís
Maria de Puig, welcomed the fact that the political will to
combat violence against women had led to the introduction of
legislation in Spain. "Overall, however, there is little
cause for satisfaction: it is estimated today that 80 million
women in Europe are victims of violence."

Strasbourg, 25 November
2008 - Declaration of PACE Président. On the occasion
of the International day for the elimination of violence against
women, the President of the PACE, Lluís Maria de Puig,
reiterated the PACE’s call on the Council of Europe Committee
of Ministers to draft, without delay, a convention to combat
the most serious and widespread forms of violence against women.

Brussels, 13 October 2008
- José Mendes Bota presents the results of the parliamentary
dimension of the Campaign at the Hearing of the European Parliament on
Combating domestic violence

“Our two assemblies have a vital role to
perform in combating violence against women,” said José Mendes
Bota (Portugal, EPP/CD), PACE member, at the hearing organised
by the European Parliament on prevention of domestic violence,
in the presence of Jacques Barrot, Vice-President of the European
Commission and Anna Zaborska, Chair of the European Parliament’s
gender equality committee. “Eighty million women in Europe
had suffered assault” but “reliable statistics were
needed” according to Mr Mendes Bota, who had come to present
the outcomes of the parliamentary dimension of the Council of Europe
campaign “Stop violence against women” (2006-2008).
“One-third
of the Council of Europe member states do not regard violence against
women as a criminal offence,” he
observed, calling on European parliamentarians to support the proposed
convention on the severest and most widespread forms of violence
against women unanimously adopted by the PACE on 3 October.

Strasbourg, 3 October 2008
- Launch of the Compendium of parliamentary actions and good
practices

On the occasion of the presentation of the report
of José Mendes Bota (Portugal, PPE/CD), PACE published a Compendium
of parliamentary actions and good practices developed by the
PACE, the national parliaments and international parliamentary
assemblies from 2006 to 2008 in the framework of the Council of
Europe Campaign "Stop domestic violence against women".
Available in English and French. The Compendium can be ordered
at the Secretariat of the Equality
Committee.

Strasbourg, 3 October 2008
- PACE calls for a convention to combat violence against women

In a text unanimously adopted today, PACE has
recommended that a framework convention of the Council of Europe
be drafted on the severest and most widespread forms of violence
against women, in particular domestic violence, sexual assaults,
harassment, forced marriages, honour crimes and female genital
mutilation. According to the Assembly, this convention should encompass
the gender dimension and address the specific nature of gender-based
violence.
During the debate, the rapporteur of the Committee
on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men, José Mendes Bota
(Portugal, EPP/CD), asked members of the Assembly to continue to
play an active role on this issue and to demonstrate a firm political
will. He said that, unless legislation were adopted, this fight
would continue to be in vain, and that there was a vital need to
provide protection for victims, to prosecute the perpetrators of
violence and to introduce effective prevention.